The Troubled Times of Rania Khan

Oh No!!!..........

Oh Yes!!!........

Its been a challenging time for Cllr Rania Khan, who as you know is the would-be architect of the destruction of the strip club scene in Tower Hamlets.

First she has seen that her prohibitionist campaign has seemingly ground to halt while the boroughs legal team try and exempt The White Swan from the 'Nil Policy' and escape accusations of homophobia...

Soon after the above, the Ministry of Decided that Bow would make a jolly good location for a battery of Starstreak High Velocity Missiles and it looks as though they will be located there, irrespective of Ranias view on the matter...

Then, only days ago, a fellow councillor allegedly threatened to kill her after a frank exchange of views conducted in Bangladeshi in a difficult council meeting...

But all of the above must pale into comparison with the latest misfortune to darken Rania's path to personal glory, because it seems that someone wants to delete her Wikipedia entry. So lets look at what has been going in a little more detail....

It seems that Ranias entry first appeared on 1st May 2012, the work of a contributor whose username is 'Tanbircdq'. Happily for us, Wikipedia is gloriously transparent and we can see what happened in the days after the article was published.

Wikipedians were all over the article, largely it seems because of the reputation for 'Tanbircdq', whose efforts seem rarely uncontroversial. Like me, I am sure you appreciate the edit made on 18th May at 21:29 where 'NJ Wine' 'Removed puffery and opinions'. But it gets better, lets look at what people were saying about the article...

As we can see many expressed reservations about the article, but some of the issues raised are of great interest, particularly when we see the first paragraph where 'Atheling1125' seems to raise the possibility that
'Tanbircdq' may in fact be Rania Khan herself and that the media sources quoted are 'trivial'. Now we see that 'Atheling1125' retracts the comment later when challenged by 'NJ Wine' but don't worry, because it is this user that gives the best quote of all.....

"..I understand your perspective, because there was a certain amount of crap in the article that I removed...."

Just loving this I really am, so lets have a look at the article as it first appeared. I have underlined the 'crap' and the 'puffery' for you to see.

Please note the authors spelling of 'Gandhi' and no I don't think Charlie Dacke wrote the article.

We see that the original version that unreservedly supportive of Cllr Khan and this in itself is going to make people suspicious, but it is good to know that Rania plans to 'continue her further education, especially in the areas of Science and Philosophy'. In fact maybe she should focus on the science part, because that way, when the next person asks her on Twitter about her views on evolution, she can give a credible reply, certainly better than the last one she gave....

Love to know her opinions......

I don't know who the author of the article was, but they have done Rania no favours at all with their approach, but its good to see such conceptually flawed crap being made public. I don't know about you, but Tower Hamlets is just so much fun.

If you want to know how the article ended up, I suggest you follow this link to see for yourself, I'm not being lazy, but revisions seem to happen on  fairly regular basis and where it could end up is anyones guess.

StrippingTheIllusion Wins 2012 Erotic Awards - Best Blog Category

I found out just after 9.00pm, when my friend Edie LaMort called me from the prize giving ceremony. As I am in post heart attack recovery mode, I was unable to make the event. I was thrilled to be nominated, amazed to reach the finals and to actually win is astounding, especially when considering the competition.

So I guess I had better do my award speech now and thank everyone that has helped make this blog what it is...

TonyN for articles, support and brilliant comments,

Brute for great comments and hopefully some great articles in the near future,

Edie LaMort for great ideas and articles,

AlanS for supportive comments and great leads,

Maddie for offering to help educate the wilfully ignorant,

John at Wiggle for great material for postings,

All of the staff of Wiggle and Elegance for their contributions (see you all in July),

Michael of The Horns for support, ideas and Budweiser (red wine for me from now on...)

Manu from The Nags Head for his invaluable support,

The Dave Gang for their help and encouragement,

Tuppy Owens for nominating me in the first place,

The staff , management and dancers at Browns, The Horns, The White Horse and The Nags Head,

And last but not least, a big thank you to all of the prohibitionists for writing

crazed shit that I can post about.....

Edie LaMort was also nominated for an award in the Campaigner/Activist category and I am sad that she did not win. So as far as I am concerned, my award is shared, because Edie actually gets out there and campaigns at the sharp end as it were. Edie kindly represented me at the award ceremony and sometime soon I plan to venture into London to collect my marvellous 'Flying Penis' award, which I will of course photograph and feature in a later posting...

So once again, thank you and lets see what we can do the develop and build this blog into something bigger and better.....

Chasmal...

More Fascist Mailshots in Portsmouth

You know, people are basically shitty. It’s when they prove it over and over again that it gets obnoxious. - Frank Zappa

The anonymous gang behind the mailshot that urged Portsmouth residents to rise up and close 'Elegance', have now released a sequel aimed at 'Wiggle'. You can see it below....

Charlie Dacke probably didn't write this mailshot, note the absence of spelling errors ....

As you can see it is essentially the same as the mailshot that targeted 'Elegance', it contains the same lies about crime, prostitution and sex trafficking and therefore must have been written by the same group of morons. What is really annoying is the allegation that clubs and by implication 'Wiggle', cause localised crime waves. TonyN looked at this situation and the figures that he analysed enabled me to produce the graph below....

What we can see here is a representation of incidences of violence within a 50 metre radius of the current location of 'Wiggle'. The red area represents incidents that occurred before 'Wiggle' opened and as you can see the area was quite dangerous. The vertical yellow bar marks the opening of 'Wiggle' and we can then see that crime levels virtually flatline after the club has established itself. There is no mystery here, all clubs have external lighting, cameras and doormen, which act as strong deterrents against criminal behaviour.

TonyN got the figures directly from the police and you can do the same thing, as can the fools that wrote the mailshots that aim to return the neighbourhood to their previous crime ridden state. So my point is that the writers are liars, clubs actually reduce incidents of crime in the immediate vicinity.

I find it quite interesting that no mailshots have been posted through front doors that focus on the other club in Portsmouth, so what is it about 'Wiggle' and 'Elegance'? Well they are are owned by the same person, Mr Paul Ojla (pictured below) and I have to say that it is starting to look like some kind of vendetta is being pursued here under the guise of designer feminism.

The key issue is 'why'?...

We have seen that campaign groups (CAPE in Tower Hamlets for example) can pursue prohibitionist campaigns against clubs that mask commercial agendas. Is it possible that someone in Portsmouth wants to see 'Wiggle' and 'Elegance' closed not because of a sense of morality, but because of an opportunity to profit?

Or is there another reason that Mr Ojlas (pictured below) businesses are being targeted? Maybe readers in the Portsmouth area could be of assistance here, if you have any ideas please let me know what they are and maybe we can get to the bottom of this mystery and expose the haters for who and what they really are.....

Charlie Dacke Tells Lies....

Hello everyone and first I would like to say how good it is to be back. As TonyN commented some days ago, I have been in hospital, what was not revealed was that I was recovering from a minor heart attack. I am now out and back home and I must say that I am feeling better now than I have for some months...

My last post was to be the the first of a whole series about Charlie Dacke that were going to be published over the period of a week. Obviously we are a little behind, but that shouldn't stop us from going ahead as planned.

The frame grab below is from a thread on the Solent Feminist Network Facebook page and we can see that Charlie Dacke is once again trying to get a Portsmouth lap dancing club closed down....

Its an interesting posting for just so many reasons. We see that Charlie has apparently tired of fighting her corner on Facebook and asks people to essentially leave the thread alone (unless of course they agree with her). We can also see that Dacke supporter Kathryn Rimmington reminds Charlie of what happened last time she opened a prohibitionist thread. Its interesting to note that Kathryn doesn't actually know what 'Elegance' actually is and this gives Charlie an opportunity to explain...

Now before we go any further, lets remember that Charlie wants the thread disregarded by those that have no interest and on that basis alone, you would imagine that she would strive to keep her postings simple and unprovocative as possible. The problem is though that Charlie just cannot help herself and we end up with is a posting that almost seems designed to provoke a negative reaction. It is also the most outrageous piece that Charlie has written since I advised her about defamation of character some weeks ago...

If Charlie wanted to be uncontroversial, she could have said that Elegance is a lap dancing club that she would happily see closed, but instead the demons take over and Elegance is described as a place where.....

"........men go to buy young girls to strip for them and grind their shaven pubic areas in their faces while they often attempt t [sic] stick their fingers inside the women's vaginas and grab their breasts........"

Apart from the emotive, hate filled firework display that the above sentence embodies, we can also see that Charlie has lied by assigning activities that amount to sexual assault to a named venue. This is quite frankly inexcusable, especially as it implies that the staff that wrote testimonies about the venues (here, here, here and here) are liars. Furthermore, Charlie was also invited by Maddie, a member of this blog, to go and see what happens in Elegance for herself, an invitation that she has never responded to, probably because its easier to spout outrageous lies than witness things first hand and be proven wrong.

".......I have been harassed by punters outside these clubs.........."

I can only assume that this was the time that Charlie made allegations about Wiggle, as detailed below....

So we see that once again, Charlie is making apparently baseless allegations about lap dancing clubs and we see that we the police became involved, the clubs management were totally co-operative and no one found any evidence to support Charlies allegation.

".........They breed sexism and misogyny in wider society.........."

Really. How do they do this Charlie? Will I find the answer in the Lilith Report?

"........What happens inside the walls of a lap dancing club would be classed as sexual harassment and illegal under employment law in any other workplace..........."

Here Charlie rolls out what she sees as her killer comment, but as we have discussed in the past, it really is a stupid and pointless comparison. The activities of a fire-eater would be illegal in a shoe shop and the Health & Safety Executive would take a dim view of B&Q selling nuclear powered barbecues. The key issue is that lap dancing is legal in licensed premises and this is something that Charlie just cannot deal with on any level.

"..........I won't be saying anything more about them.........."

If only that was true, but as I said earlier Charlie just cannot help herself and went on to say much more, as we will discuss in later postings....

Finally, you may feel that the title of this posting is somewhat aggressive and maybe it is, but until Charlie Dacke presents this blog with evidence acceptable to a court of law that supports her allegations about what happens in Elegance...........

"........'Elegence is a den of misogyny, where men go to buy young girls to strip for them and grind their shaven pubic areas in their faces while they often attempt t (sic) stick their fingers inside the women's vaginas and grab their breasts........"

.........the title will remain unchanged.

In our next posting, StrippingTheIllusion will start to examine the possibility that beneath the feminist posturing, there is another agenda being pursued against Wiggle and Elegance, an agenda that has nothing to do with lap dancing but something else that we have yet to see or understand.

Celebrating 10,000 Page Views - Its Charlie Dacke Week!!!

I know I keep going on about this, but I am just so chuffed that something that I started in January will soon achieve its 10,000th page view and our readership continues to grow as well. Have a look at the StrippingTheIllusion world coverage map...

As you can see we have a good chunk of the globe popping by to see for themselves what is going on in Britain and how we are highlighting the lies of prohibitionist fascists that seem to be everywhere at the moment. Now, I was wondering exactly how to celebrate not only our 10,000th page view, but also reaching the finals of the 2012 Erotic Awards. I thought about it for a while and then realised that maybe a series of articles that essentially define what the blog is about and also provide an unflinching analysis of why this blog exists would be a good way to do things...

All I needed was a subject, I wondered whether Anna Van Heeswijk would make a good topic, but lets face it, Object have got a bit boring of late. I considered Rania Khan as a good subject, but Rania is busy fighting the militarisation of Tower Hamlets. Then, this morning I received some cool frame grabs about a Facebook campaign to close 'Elegance', the lap dancing club in Portsmouth and that's when I realised that the best way to celebrate would be to focus on our old friend Charlie Dacke. I actually have a weeks worth of material for this as well and it starts with the frame below, so tighten your seat belts, because we are in for a wild ride, because its.......

Its Charlie Dacke Week

Jani Franck really wants to object to Elegance but isn't really sure what to say though. My best advice is to be honest and say what you think. If you don't like something, state your position clearly and honestly and you can sleep soundly knowing that you've done things for the right reason. The problem is that Jan is worried that her reasons of objecting won't hold water so she asked Charlie Dacke what to say....

Charlie responded and advised Jan to object about 'no-go zones' and feeling unsafe while walking past clubs. But if the 'no-go zones' existed, Jan would know about them already, wouldn't she? Maybe she needs to walk past Elegance herself to experience the 'no-go-zone-of objectification' herself, that way, when she objects its based upon experience, as opposed to something she's been told to write.

Charlie advises Jan to complain about illegal parking, which is an absurd assumption unless you watched where the drivers of the illegally parked cars went after they illegally parked them. Jan is then told to discuss how she feels about lap dancing clubs and I just hope that she is honest in her objection, because otherwise its a bit of a conspiracy against freedom of expression and that is something that Jan Franck is very much against...

I cannot imagine there are too many Jan Francks living in the Portsmouth area, so I hope that I am right when I say that the Jan Franck who was conspiring with Charlie Dacke to close Elegance is the same one that was interviewed by The Guardian when the art house cafe of which she is a director of, were going to screen a film called 'On The Verge'.

What happened was as follows....

'SmashEDO', an activist group made a short documentary about EDO, a Brighton based arms dealer. The police it seems did not come out of the documentary covered in glory and it seems that there may have been a group conspiring to ensure the film was never publicly screened. Now Jan, decided that her art cafe would make an ideal place to screen the film, but she received a visit from the police....

"It was frightening. The police officer asked me if I knew anything about the smashEDO people. He said they were leftwing anarchists. I grew up in South Africa and this felt like the sort of thing the police there would do. It felt like political policing."

Well Jan, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but it seems that you value freedom of expression, apart from when it comes to lap dancing clubs and the people that work in them, when political policing is suddenly a very cool, rad thing to do.

Its amazing how time and circumstances can turn freedom fighters into prohibitionists. Freedom of expression is freedom of expression and exists for everyone Jan, not just for some people and not others based upon political convenience.

Now, as I said earlier, I have a weeks worth of material and comment about Charlie Dacke, so stay posted for the next instalment, which should be on this blog by Monday evening.

Remember, please tell your friends that its 'Charlie Dacke Week' at StrippingTheIllusion.

In our next episode, prepare to be mindblown as Charlie Dacke tells Kathryn Rimmington all about the 'den of misogyny'  that is 'Elegance', 

Solent Feminist Network SEV Consultation Response - Charlie Dacke Cannot Spell

The Solent Feminist Network made their submission to Portsmouth Councils SEV Consultation in January of this year. What you can see above is the covering letter. As you can see Charlie Dackes signature has been redacted, as has for some reason what may have been a logo at the top right hand side of the letter.

I don't know about you, but if I was preparing an important submission of evidence, I would at least make sure that the covering letter was free of spelling errors, but this seems to be beyond Charlie Dacke and her pals at  SFN.

I thought it would be interesting to have a look at their submission and comment on the highlights. Expect nothing earth shattering as there is nothing there that essentially couldn't have been lifted from Objects website....

Well, I couldn't find Part 1, which deals with the Solent Feminist Network 'as a consultee', which means that they either forgot to enclose it or there is something there that Portsmouth Council do not want us to see..

This section is misleading. It creates that impression that all anyone had to do was walk into any Licensing Department and ten minutes later they could open a lap dancing club. As Bill Martland wrote......

This is simply untrue. Unless they serve refreshments after 11pm coffee shops don't even need a licence. Lap dancing clubs on the other hand are covered by the Licensing Act 2003. The Act introduced one type of licence to replace the previously required 6 forms of generic licence. This change was implemented specifically to introduce more effective controls on premises' licensable activities via local authorities' new power to impose individually tailored permissions. Since the implementation of the Act, over 170,000 individually tailored permissions have been implemented on licensed premises, with conditions appropriate to the risk and nature of the business being applied.

Those applying for 'regulated entertainment' under their premises licence are subject to rigorous scrutiny and a public consultation process. Indeed, premises must also tick Box N on the licence application to state their intention of offering entertainment of an adult nature. Premises licences are tailored to the activities that will be offered by each venue, using a clearly defined operating schedule. This sets out how lap dancing clubs will comply with the 4 objectives of the Licensing Act.

Solent then go onto talk about how hard it is for local residents and concerned local authorities to prevent clubs from springing up everywhere. Its another lie as Bill Martland wrote in response to a similar allegation....

This again is simply untrue. Concerns about need or whether a new club is appropriate for a local community are, first and foremost, considered under the local planning regime. Local authorities have almost unbounded discretion to grant or reject an application. In considering planning permissions, they also have the ability to adopt local plans setting out policies in respect of certain types of licensed premises, including lap dancing clubs. Additionally, nightclubs are categorised a 'sui generis' under the Use Classes Order in planning legislation. This ensures that any operator wishing to turn their premises into a nightclub must undergo a fully consultative planning permission process. Obtaining planning permission is by far the biggest hurdle operators face when opening a new lap dancing club. Many applications are flatly refused at planning stage.

In addition, the Licensing Act 2003 introduced a right for residents to oppose an application, complain about an existing operator and call for a review of a licence. Contrary to what is claimed by the Fawcett Society, this right is not restricted to those living within 100m of an outlet. The Act does not define any vicinity; residents need only demonstrate that they are affected by an application or outlet. Local residents are able to object to any application on the grounds that it does not meet one or more of the four licensing objectives. Local authorities can only take such objections into account. It is not in the local authorities' power to refuse an application on the grounds of subjective moral objections.

This was a very significant change from the previous 1964 Act. A single objection can halt a licence application in its tracks and a single complaint can lead to the revocation of the licence. By way of example, in a recent case in Durham, a Council ignored objections from local residents and theMagistrates Court reversed their decision, showing how effective and influential local complaints can be.

The reality is that planning and licensing restrictions give local authorities and local communities full powers of consultation, complaint and control.

Who found the 'high levels of sexual and financial exploitation' in lapdancing clubs? Where is the reference for this assertion? Maybe we'll see something later.... 

Its so cool to see Chas Dacke lecturing the Council on Gender Equality and how unlawful harassment of women is wrong, especially when it was the Solent Feminist Network that made a habit of standing outside clubs screaming and shouting at anyone that went inside them...

Ahhh, now we see where they are getting their 'lapdancing horror' evidence from....its The Holsopple Report. I have to say that what SFN have written and attributed to Holsopple is accurate, however what Chas Dacke omits is that Holsopple is a 20 year old study of clubs in America and has no relevance to Portsmouth in 2012.

I think the thing about Philip Kolvin QC that they should be mindful of is that he successfully represented Urban Tiger in Bristol and ensured they got their licence to trade...

I only included this so that you can see how poorly the whole document was presented. Quite frankly I would be embarrassed to submit something so amateurish. It looks to me like the Solent Feminist Networks submission was put together in about half an hour and treats the Council with contempt as it lectures them about their duties to society and gender equality.

That said, there is only one reason that I could imagine that something as shoddy as this was submitted and that is because SFN think that the 'Nil Cap' is a done deal.

In summary, the arguments are poorly thought out, fail to address the issues adequately, were largely lifted from Object and as a result cannot be taken seriously by Portsmouth Council. If this ends up court and Portsmouth hold this submission up as the basis of their Nil Cap decision, they will be laughed out of court and somewhat poorer as a result...

Fascist Mailshots In Portsmouth

I want you to imagine that you are sitting in your living room, maybe you're watching a film a reading a book or maybe you're wondering exactly how you're going to meet this months mortgage payments and eat at the same time. But a noise from the front door distracts you, so you get up and investigate and see a sheet of paper on the doormat. You pick it up and see that it is a mailshot.....

You see that you have been sent something by an anonymous group of fascists that are trying to make you frightened of something that exists in your town. The anonymous group wants this thing to be closed down and are so desperate to get your support that they assign all sorts of horrors to its existence, such as crime and foreigners (the usual suspects for fascists).

Now I bet you think I am talking about the kind of thing that right wing mentalists write about mosques, but actually I am not, although the modus operandi is identical. No, what I talking about is that a fascist group in Portsmouth have once again been posting anonymous letters through peoples front doors in an effort to get 'Elegance', one of the cities lapdancing clubs closed down.

Here it is below......

This is the kind of thing that the National Front used to do in the 1970's so as to raise popular support against asian owned corner shops or anything that was owned/operated/associated with people that weren't white. Its interesting that such a tactic has been resurrected by a new generation of fascist scumbags. That said it is not surprising, every time a prohibitionist makes a comment in a lapdancing related related article on Portsmouth.co.uk, they get shot down in flames by other contributors that don't share their obsessive hatred of dancers, clubs and their owners. Mailshots can't be argued with as such and that is why we are lucky to have been sent the above photo.

Lets look at the lies.....

'........Strip clubs have proven links with crime, prostitution and sex-trafficking.........'.

Really?

I invite the author to provide the evidence and by evidence I mean something that would be acceptable in a Court of Law, as opposed to the twisted mind of a bigot. There is no link, nether has there been any study that suggests a link between clubs and gender based violence or crime or prostitution or sex trafficking.

Do you notice how the mailshot is anonymous? This is because the author told lies and they don't want to get caught out because they lack the substance to stand by what they wrote. In fact their idea of open democracy is to skulk around at night, posting spittle flecked hatred through peoples front doors...

In other words, not only are they fascists, but they're cowards as well.

Starstreak Missiles in Bow - 'Its Becoming A Saga Now'.

I know that this blog is about strippers and striptease, but I just couldn't help keeping track of the whole Olympic missile affair and its impact on the boroughs politics. Lots of blogs are commenting about this and of course 'East London Lines' are as well, so I thought I would provide you all with a good update of peoples views and thoughts. But first however, I have noted that a number of people have produced photoshopped pictures of what  it would look like of the missiles were actually launched. Most of what I have seen is fairly lame, so this is my attempt below....

The army test the ground to air capability of Starstreak on Lutfurs Merc.......

So what's the latest in the situation....


Well Brian Whelan, the resident that first raised the issue in the media, is apparently being evicted from his home. Clearly this shouldn't be that upsetting to him because he expressed concerns about the age of the soldiers that will be managing the missiles.....

”They look younger than me, and I’m not yet 30″, said Mr Whelan. “Surely you run a test like the real thing? It’s a disgrace.” 

Not really sure what point the soon to be homeless Brian is trying to make here. How old the soldiers look is of no relevance and his comment is essentially ageist. In terms of a test......what did he have in mnd? 

Someone flying an airliner at roof top level over the borough?

Anyway, apparently this is only the beginning of organised resistance as their was another meeting booked on 9th May at St Pauls. Before you get confused, its the St Pauls on St Stephens Road, not the cathedral.

Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition, is another local resident who sees this as a great channel to raise their media profile. He believes that its a class issue and that the 'militarisation' of London represents a 'show of bravado' by Britain's ruling class, not a response to any credible terrorist threat.

Elly Badcock, Limehouse resident and member of the Counter Olympics Network said that the missiles were essentially a message to local working class residents that 'you may live in London, but the games are not for you'. Well a million more tickets are due to be released for sale this week, so Londoners still have a chance to get to the event, but  they'll have to take their chances with the rest of the world, because this is after all a world event...

I don't think that missiles are being used as a social threat statement by the authorities, that said its easy to see how conspiracy twats could fold these views into their arguments. Let's face it, every anti-something group in England are going to find an angle in this story and use it to bolster their campaign profile. 

Actually, Object recently made a statement linking the locations of missiles to the proximity of lap dancing clubs in the borough. In an emotional statement, Object CEO Anna Van Heeswijk said that the missiles 'objectified every women in the East End of London' and noted the fact that the missiles are shaped like penises 'that fly around and kill when they inevitably slip beyond control, just like men do all of the time, like when they fall out of lapdancing clubs and sexually harass women riding past on their bicycles'. Anna argued that the phallic shape of the missiles was 'an explicitly patriachal statement' and demanded that 'weapons of a more inclusive nature' be designed.*

Charlie Dacke of the Solent Feminist Network stated that she has walked past a Rapier Missile Battery and had been subject to a barrage of sexually harassing comments from the soldiers and all of time the batteries commanding officer just looked on laughed.*

Apparently residents of Blackheath have taken a different view of the whole thing, they are looking at having some Rapier Missiles planted right in the middle of the borough and they thinks its cool. Probably because they're so middle class and aren't likely to be hit by any flaming wreckage.

In summary, everyone that wants to be anyone is now on the bandwagon and that's why I why I think the clubs are safe from Tower Hamlets until after the summer at least.

* Actually they didn't say anything like that at all, I just wanted to make you smile...

*  She didn't say that actually, I was just being amusing...

Exploring Objectification

One of this blogs key contributors, TonyN has been looking at the issue of Objectification. He has reached some compelling conclusions and asks prohibitionists some uncomfortable questions.

I have been thinking about the whole issue of OBJECTIFICATION that anti sex feminists roll out when all their other arguments are shown up. So what is objectification? Well here are the 7 definitions that I have been able to find

1. instrumentality: the treatment of a person as a tool for the objectifier's purposes;
2. denial of autonomy: the treatment of a person as lacking in autonomy and self-determination;
3. inertness: the treatment of a person as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity;
4. fungibility: the treatment of a person as interchangeable with other objects;
5. violability: the treatment of a person as lacking in boundary-integrity;
6. ownership: the treatment of a person as something that is owned by another (can be bought or sold);
7. denial of subjectivity: the treatment of a person as something whose experiences and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.

Now this is quite heavy but the jist of it is that a person views another person as an object. So men view some women as an object of sexual desire. Not really big news is it, men have urges and the fact that they do is good for the human race. Now women have urges and they Objectify some men but this is never mentioned, never talked about and seems not to really exist.

According to Martha Nussbaum, objectification need not have devastating consequences to a person's humanity. In fact, Nussbaum criticises MacKinnon and Dworkin for conceiving of objectification as a necessarily negative phenomenon. Nussbaum believes that it is possible that ‘some features of objectification… may in fact in some circumstances… be even wonderful features of sexual life’, and so ‘the term objectification can also be used… in a more positive spirit. Seeing this will require … seeing how the allegedly impossible combination between (a form of) objectification and “equality, respect, and consent” might after all be possible’

So even some of those people who have defined objectification can view it as a positive. So lets move to the current acceptable face of Objectification, David Beckham, sports person, model, brand. When someone becomes a Brand we are treating them like an object, a role model is an object of desire as we desire to become like them. When working we are objects seen by bosses as tools to be used to complete tasks. Objectification surrounds all of us, yet it is one groups view that it doesn't exist except when men look at women. Well someone better tell all the women who talk about men's packages on line that careful you may be objectifying men.

So we have people who have different opinions about objectification and if it is negative, positive or natural. Men and women have desires and urges and we create fantasies a lot of the time. Why all of a sudden does natural responses become a moral issue on which we are judged? Moralists ask yourselves by what criteria are you judging others about objectification and are you not making those men you judge objects by the way you judge them?

Lets Close Every Club in Tower Hamlets Part 13 - Heeeeere's Starstreak!

Starstreak, soon to be deployed to a tower block near you........

Notice that Rania is wearing black, that means its serious..

Its been a while since I focussed seriously on the situation in Tower Hamlets, this is largely due to the fact that no one seems to be doing to much about closing every strip club in the borough at the moment. TonyN pointed out to me that there is a Cabinet meeting on 9th May and that maybe one or two agenda items could possibly look at mass club closure. I did some some work on Google and like Tony, found nothing else that might indicate a move to action. I checked Rania Khans blog and found to my surprise that she hasn't posted since April 1st.

Its gone very quiet and last night (Saturday) I was pondering the issue when the peace of Chasmal Towers was broken by the sound of low flying jet. Living under a flightpath makes you somewhat aware of jet noises and this was no ordinary jet, I am reasonably sure it was a Typhoon, practising airborne interceptions of mentalist terrorists for the Olympics...

The I realised that maybe, just maybe, Rania and Lutfur have other things on their mind at the moment and that could well be the deployment of an anti-aircraft missile battery in the Bow ward of Tower Hamlets.

What do you think?

Lets look at things in a little more detail.

The government are concerned that terrorists will try and do something airborne and kill potentially thousands of people. To ensure that the risk is mitigated, anti-aircraft missiles are gong to be place at strategic points around London so as to ensure that any threat can be effectively neutralised. Typhoon fighter jets will also be on standby as well.

Our Armed Forces are really good at their job and I have little doubt that anything that poses a threat will be intercepted, but the concern is about what happens to the terrorists aircraft after it has been hit. Well, its going to land somewhere and that somewhere may we well be in Newham, Tower Hamlets or maybe even Essex or Kent and if it does, its going to kill a load of people, but perhaps not as many as it might if it crashed on the Olympic Village.

Now as you can imagine, Rania Kahn is not best pleased about the prospect of missiles that travel at over a kilometre a second being located in the neighbourhood. In fact on May 4th, she spoke at the 'No Missiles in East London' public meeting where 50 people turned up, somewhat less than attended the 'Lapdancing - Choice or Exploitation' meeting last October, which in itself is interesting. Apparently they have agreed to plan a 'big demonstration' which hopefully will link up with other boroughs that are also concerned about being temporary neighbours with missile batteries. There is also going to be a 'big meeting', where MOD officials will be invited to speak and if I was the MOD I would make sure I got my invites, because sometimes they don't arrive and Rania and the gang  claim you didn't show up out of fear or lack of interest.

Now Rania is in a real bind with this one.

If she doesn't protest against the missiles and Bow gets sprayed with red hot shrapnel, then that's her political career over...

If she does protest against the missiles and something happens and a maniac crashes a plane into the Olympic Stadium, the world will quite rightly ask where the anti-aircraft missiles were and it will be revealed that Rania Khan played a big role in getting them sent away. The world will not be happy about this and again, Ranias' career will be over.

The real issue is however as follows; Did no one imagine that precautions would be taken to protect the Olympics? Tower Hamlets Council seemed to be very enthused about the whole thing and now that they realise that no one is going to be allowed to spoil the party with a hijacked airliner, all they are doing is complaining.

This is why I think the whole striptease closure issue in Tower Hamlets is going to go to sleep until after the Para-Olympics. I take the view that Lutfur and his gang are hardly likely to open a second front with the MOD, while they are facing multiple court actions from annoyed strip club owners. Also, if they are silly enough to announce that they have destroyed the strip scene in the borough, but failed to prevent the appearance of Starstreak, then the electorate will not be best pleased...

I am astonished with Rania, I thought she would be very excited and pleased about the missile deployment, because after all she does 'luv' her weapons.

Postscript. I am surprised that Michael Collins of CAPE (Campaign Against Property Extirpation) isn't all over this. After all, he seemed so keen to safeguard his freehold property interest against strip clubs and yet he doesn't seem bothered at all about Starstreak. Which by the way has been tested against ground targets which found perhaps unsurprisingly 900gms of tungsten dart travelling at over mach 3 can really mess up whatever it hits...

PostPostscript. I imagine there is going to be a complete ban on anything in the air inside the M25, so lets hope the MOD are on on form and have on-site liaison with the people that run the air ambulance helicopter that is, as I recall based in Tower Hamlets...

Template SEV Consultation Document

Every time a council undertakes an SEV Consultation, there are costs involved. Lets face it, no two consultation documents are alike, so to be helpful StrippingTheIllusion has designed a template form for any council to use....

The StrippingTheIllusion document is easy to complete and its multiple choice as well, so respondents won't have to think too hard about it. Also its a very honest document as well and this will save time and public money when it all comes to court.

I Can Think Of One Reason That Ken Livingstone Lost The Election....

As I wrote in a blog posting some weeks ago...

In 2004, when he was mayor of the capital, Ken Livingstone invited radical preacher Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to speak in London and has frequently defended him and their relationship in the media. Now a number of people worry about Ken and his defence of al-Qaradawi. This is why....

In 2008 al-Qaradawi was refused an entry visa to the Britain and managed to get himself barred from entering France in 2012. Has has quite uncompromising views on a number of issues, for example al-Qaradawi told The Guardian that wife-beating was neither "obligatory nor desirable" but that he "accepts it as a method of last resort – though only lightly". He went onto to state on Channel 4 News that beating up women was justifiable in certain circumstances.

He has views on female genital mutilation as well. He said that female circumcision is "not required" in his book, Modern Fatwas, but added that "whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters should do it, and I personally support this under the current circumstances in the modern world."

Perhaps unsurprisingly al-Qaradawis views on homosexuality are uncompromising as well, because he believes that it should be punishable by death.

So actually I can well believe that Ken Livingstone wants to close every club in London, especially if we judge him by the company that he keeps.

So it doesn't look like Ken will get to close every lap dancing club in London. I hope that some of Kens missing votes were from those whose jobs he threatened in a half arsed bid for profile. Still, maybe he can become Objects new Campaign Manager, I understand that there's a vacancy....

Postscript:

Maybe the bad new is that City and East have voted in John Biggs of the Labour Party as their GLA candidate. John, who is keen on freedom of expression as long as the views expressed are his, said this about the venues in Tower Hamlets with active licenses...

“Residents have told me that they just don't want lap-dancing clubs on their doorstep. I hope that the councils in the East End will listen to residents' concerns and refuse to grant licences to these places."

That said, he expressed his view probably before he knew that one of the places he is so keen to close is a long established gay venue, The White Swan.

There is maybe a positive side though, Lutfurs Independent crew were trashed in Tower Hamlets and this just might signal a shift in alliances in the cabinet.

Objects Campaign Against FGM

In this article in The Guardian, it was reported that two men have been arrested by police investigating claims that female genital mutilation is being offered in the UK. Another article in the same newspaper, alleged that 'more than 21,000 girls under 15 in England and Wales are estimated to be at serious risk of being forced into genital mutilation and a further 11,000 over-eights are highly likely already to have been subjected to the practice'.


Furthermore, the same article stated that 'around 66,000 women and girls in England and Wales may have undergone the procedure, in which part or all of their genitalia is cut off and stitched up, without anaesthetic'.


Yes I know that I have been critical of The Guardian, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day and on this matter they are right. FGM is so evil it defies understanding and its perpetrators are abominations.


The second Guardian article was published in 2007, just when Object were getting into their stride with their Lap Dancing Campaign. Its good to see that Object understand their priorities. I have to ask, what act objectifies women more than FGM? What is more abusive than FGM? I challenge anyone to name something, but even if there are any suggestions, I sincerely doubt that lap dancing and Page 3 will be among the answers.


Maybe you think I am being unfair, but if this is the case I want to explain something. Campaign groups run on cash and the supply of cash is finite. On this basis, funding should be prioritised to groups that are combating genuine social evils and when considered against the genital mutilation of children, lap dancing clubs, Page 3, Nuts, Zoo, FHM and Miss World don't even appear on the scale.


The key organisation involved in raising awareness of and campaigning against FGM is Forward UK. Help them out with a donation here.


Oh before anyone even dares to mention it, a bunch of rad fems twatting around Harley Street, screaming 'Hands Off Our Muffs', doesn't count.

The Guardian - Comment Isn't Free...

Most of time I am convinced it's really  like this........

That said I think this is also true........

But this is probably the truest of all......

Object on Fashion Models - 'Many Die Starving Themselves, Abusing Their Bodies'.

In a previous posting, I touched upon what I think motivates Object and that I believe it is a deeply held dislike of anyone that uses their looks to earn a living. I said that I would show you a frame grab that support this view, well the first one is below for you to examine.

Almost deliberately controversial fashion designer Julien MacDonald earned the wrath of Object when he made the comment that plus sized models have no place in the fashion industry. I do not know enough about the scene to comment, but I do know that he is an enthusiastic user of fur, so that alone makes him somewhat suspect in my book.

The Object Yahoo Board was all over MacDonalds comment and to some extent quite rightly so. What struck me though were the comments written by the person using an unusual font. The frame grab below is a compilation of 5 of the comments and you will see that three of them are rather disturbing.

Does this sense of 'oppression' come from a feeling of worthlessness?

'........Why of why do these people not want real women instead of freaks......'

Its a disturbing thing to say and we can see why comments of this nature would never normally be expressed outside the confines of Object private Yahoo group. We can see that another activist cautions the writer asks that the phrase 'freaks' be avoided when discussing models. This however only inspires the commentor to further depths....

'......Many die starving themselves, abusing their bodies......'


Really? How many die 'starving themselves', what do they do to 'abuse their bodies'?

I find the views expressed in those comments to be profoundly disturbing because its objectification. It objectifies a named group of people as being 'freaks' who die as a result of self abuse. My greatest sadness however is reserved for the final comment, written by someone who clearly has sympathy with our friend.

Whoever wrote the final comment, they have deeply held misconceptions about women and the way that they are viewed....

'......Beautiful women must fit certain criteria that are so rare in nature they are freakish.......'

I'm sorry? I see women everyday that are beautiful, so I guess its an issue of how you define beauty or what your standards are, but I note that the writer seems convinced that 'starvation and surgery' are the only route to achieving this undefined standard.

'......Those women who are considered beautiful are less than 0.01 percent of all women......'

Can we do some maths please. The writer is saying that the 'beauty standard' occurs on 1 in a 10000 basis, so I ask where did this statistic come (not from the Lilith Report I admit). But then it gets worse......

'...........Therefore 99.99 percent of women are worthless and therefore deserve disdain, belittling, insults, mistreatment, violence etc..........'.

Is that how she really believe that society works? That everything and I mean everything is based upon the currency of looks, of visually based value judgements?

I have to ask how prevalent this view is within Object and if this is the attitude that underpins their campaigns. If it is, it is terrifying because it is based upon a fractured, damaged viewpoint that is deeply unhealthy and totally untrue.

It is indicative though of the binary approach of those who see the whole objectification scenario in conspiracy terms. Beautiful women are freaks and those that are not are abused and assaulted. Furthermore, it seems that all of these issues will be solved when women that 'beautiful' are removed from public view.

Remember, Object not only campaign against lap dancing clubs and lads magazines, they also focus on advertising and beauty competitions as well and have done so within the last year or so. Object would easily believe that all of the aforementioned campaigns would involve visual based value judgements and therefore be vectors of objectification.

Its interesting to note that their Violence Against Women campaign page really amounts to nothing and their 'Demand Change' website campaign that highlights the issue of prostitution hasn't been updated in almost two years. For Object, the entire scene seems to about denigrating women that earn a living or status by their looks.

But surely I am mistaken.

Aren't I?

Your comments please.....

Violent Crime Report 2

TonyN has completed perhaps the most comprehensive analysis every undertaken of the incidences of violent crime around lapdancing and striptease clubs. For those of use that know the scene, the results were unsurprising. You can read Tonys first series of conclusions here. In this article, Tony examines the effect that bars not offering striptease have on their neighbours, which in a number of locations in the UK, includes lapdancing clubs....

One thing did strike me when researching crime is why so many had such a low crime rate and whilst a handful had such horrible violent crime rates around them. I was extremely lucky as one City has two venues within 500m of each other and yet the volume of crimes was so different it was remarkable. One had the highest crime rate of any venue and the other certainly did not. I will not name the venues or City as the venues should not be punished for council decisions and I am certain that Object read this blog (wonder why they never say a word?)

When comparing the two venues the results are dramatic. One is located in an area shared with Bars and Clubs and the other has no bars nearby. In 2011 the one sharing with the bars and clubs had 311 violent crimes and yet the other which is very close by had 2. After investigating it seems that the one with bars and clubs is located in an area the police and council has created an artificially closed area to help manage the crime. However with the violence in the area where many bars, clubs and restaurants are located so close together it has made it almost impossible to assign blame to the individual bars or clubs. It is very striking that a SEV located within 500m of this area but outside of it has a negligible amount of crime.

So I have looked into other venues with high crime rates. One similarity possessed by them all is the fact they are located in amongst the towns and Cities night life. When reading council minutes for those areas the police and council has yet to assign any blame to any of the 14 venues with high crime rates around them. Information received from police (which is still minimal) has certainly not shown any venue having any involvement in violent crime.

You have to wonder why Object and other feminist groups speak of violence when the figures show so little. I have no doubt that they will claim that Objectification and that the violence is enacted when the men reach home on their partners. I have never seen any statistically accurate data that would prove that but Object never worry about facts when they would affect a good story line.

I think that Object and their supporters suspect that clubs create 'zones of objectification', areas where violence against women is seen to be acceptable because of the presence of a club. Its rubbish I know, but that is my best guess...

Chasmal

2012 Erotic Awards - We Are Finalists

"You've got to be digging it while it's happening 'cause it just might be a one shot deal."- Frank Zappa.

This was going to be the 100th posting, then because of circumstances it was going to be the 101st. Then later I deleted an earlier posting that no one liked or even looked at, so this is really the 100th posting.

Why is it important though?

Well, today I had the news that StrippingTheIllusion has reached the finals of the 2012 Erotic Awards in the 'Best Blog Category'. This is not exactly something that I anticipated when I started this venture in January, but nonetheless here we are.

I am really very proud that what I have done is considered worthy of recognition and if I am very lucky, an award...

So thanks for being readers and thanks for all of the comments and supportive stuff. Thanks must go to the dancers that supported me, particularly those of Wiggle and Elegance in Portsmouth, because your support and contributions to the site were invaluable. Thanks must also go to Edie, TonyN, Brute, Tonester and Alan for all of the great comments that you have made...

I will of course let you know what happens on the day and will post a link to the relevant website so that you can see what happened.

Love you loads...

Chasmal